Armenia took home the gold medal at the “Yinzhoo Cup” 2011 World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo, China, on July 26 after earning a total of 14 points.
The Armenian team remained undefeated, with five victories and four draws. During the ninth and final match on July 26, Armenia drew 2-2 with Ukraine.
The Armenian players were Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, and reserve player Robert Hovhannisyan.
A day earlier, Armenia played against Azerbaijan and drew 2-2 after nearly five hours.
China took home the silver medal with 13 points, while Ukraine earned the bronze with 12 points.
The Championship pinned 10 countries against each other. Here are the results:
1st place – Armenia (14 pts.)
2nd – China (13 pts.)
3rd – Ukraine (12 pts.)
4th – Russia (10 pts.)
5th – Hungary (10 pts.)
6th – United States (10 pts.)
7th – Azerbaijan (9 pts.)
8th – India (7 pts.)
9th – Israel (5 pts.)
10th – Egypt (0 pts.)
Congradulations to all Armenians! There is a hope toward super power in the region!
Nations like Russia, China, India and America have more chess players than the entire population of Armenia and the diaspora combined. Nations like Israel, Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan have chess programs that Armenians would be jealous of. Yet, time and again, Armenians have proven themselves in the game of chess. This advantage we clearly seem to have over the globe’s best and the brights is most definitely a result of our superior genetics, our makeup. And it is not only chess that we are good in. Our small, poor and embattled nation has regularly put out large numbers of excellent athletics, renowned scholars and world class artists. We Armenians have the talent, we have the brawn and we definitely have the brains. If we Armenians can only get our act together, that is if we learn how to be organized and work collectively, only the sky will be our limit.
Country like China has over 10 million chess players, where Armenia is the smallest and probably the poorest with less than 3 million population, beat the world’s most populous country, and became ahead of country like Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, Israel…we should be proud of our national chess team players..chess is a mind game and needs to be mathematically calculate your opponent move, before you move!!congratulation to our superior Armenian national chess team… hope to see our Armenia become regional power house, in economic, military, and….. Their success is our success!!
BRAVO to our young men.. Absolutely proud of them … Armenia remains a very strong player when it comes to chess… that says alot.. chess is not an easy game.. it takes brain, focus, determination and smarts… everything Armenians have…
GOOOOOOOOOOOOO ARMENIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Gayane
I agree with Avetis. Congratulations to the whole Armenian nation on this brilliant victory!
well said Avetis.
well said Grish.
Re: “Our small, poor and embattled nation has regularly put out large numbers of excellent athletics, renowned scholars and world class artists.”
Let’s also start giving praise and put on a well deserved pedestal our heroic Warriors.
Too many times in our history low-brow, uncultured savages have stolen or destroyed that which our intellectuals, scholars and builders had created with painstaking labor over centuries. Our Warriors are the thin tricolor line between existence and extermination.
Just one example of what our people of are capable of producing: Marshal of the Soviet Union Hovhannes Khachaturi Baghramyan (aka Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan), a proud son of Artsakh, the first non-Slavic commander in charge of a Front.
The brilliant strategy and tactics of Artsakh’s war commanders – the late Monte Melkonian, Samvel Babyan, Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan, the late Vazgen Sargsyn, Hmayak Haroyan,…rival those of the greatest Captains known to the world.
There is nothing more unique than the Armenian mind, is our greatest natural resource
I think Chess is one of the strongest ingredient of Armenian identity in 21’st century. At the same time I would recall Paruyr Sevak: “Մենք քիչ ենք, սակայն մեզ հայ են ասում” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUOwqXkLBo8&feature=player_embedded#at=11
Our chess players are indefatigable. Congrats.
Additional thoughts that which may not be popular.
Armenia is too small, too remote and too poor for the restless, lawless, brilliant and ambitious Armenian mind. Armenia is a small nation populated by very ambitious, very independent and very shrewd people. But that’s not all. Despite Armenian brilliance in various fields of profession, when it comes to politics, however, Armenians are deeply naive. Armenia’s problems also have to do with its very bad geopolitical neighborhood. Therefore, our so-called “oligarchs”, that which all nations have, are not the fundamental problem. It’s Washington’s psychological warfare operations (psyops) campaign that wants us to believe that Armenia’s only problem is its system of government (the system that just happens to be pro-Russia and pro-Iran). Armenia’s main obstacle today is its geography and its people.
Well said, Avery!
Since you mentioned Bagramian, I would like to add Hovhannes Isakov, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. He was a warrior any nation would be proud of and played a monumental role in our victory in WWII.
True that Avery jan.. absolutely….
Well said everyone.. well said… I am sooo proud of our players that I can’t hold off my happy tears…
Now lets see how Azeris will rejoice about this win… they were up and up with their heads in the clouds with bloated comments to us because their stupid Euro vision win ..simply a sing and dance competition… it is not like winning the world’s Chess Tournament.. go ahead and win as many Eurovisions you want Azerbajian but guess what? Armenia will beat you in chess anytime.. so there….
Gayane
Avetis, I agree. We have all that you said, and more… excelling in so many fields of human endeavors – today chess!! All we need now is the replacement of the inept leaderships that our homeland has had to suffer these fledgling twenty (20) years as a nation. When patriots lead our people, our citizens of Haiastan and too, all the diaporan Armenians too, shall show the world that the size of our nation is naught – compared to the intelligence and greatness of our peoples – too, led in government by true and honest patriots – aysor!!
Why are Armenians surprised?
Chess is genetically ingrained in all of you, since the 50’s we dominated this mind game from Ter -Petrossian to Gary Kasparoff we ruled the chess-world. You are all born knowing this game, teach it to your children so they too kick more butts. Bravo
WELL SAID Leon… :)
I am very happy and proud to see Armenia in top of all that countries